Monday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—NET Rankings Update (women’s): No. 4

—NET Rankings Update (men’s): No. 121

—Here’s the U of L recap of the women’s basketball team’s triumph over Duke on Sunday.

—Highlights from the win are here.

—U of L hoops commit Kamari Lands has been selected to participate in this April’s Iverson Classic.

—Brendan Marks’ write-up on Louisville-Duke for The Athletic focuses heavily on the heckling efforts of the Cardinal student section.

—Kaleb Glenn and Male took care of Ballard Saturday night to establish themselves as the clear team to beat in the 7th Region.

—You know what we as a fan base haven’t done enough that proud fan bases — and Kentucky fans are especially proficient at this — always do when their teams inexplicably suck ass? Claim that this is simply a “down year” for the sport.

It’s time to lean into it.

“Yeah, I haven’t really been watching as much as I usually do around this time of the year. I’ve tried, but I just can’t get into it. It’s just a down year for college basketball.”

“I’m sure I’ll still watch the tournament, but the talent level across the country is so bad, it’s really hard to watch. Just a down year for the sport in general.”

We’ll be back. And when we are, college basketball will miraculously be back too.

—Consensus top 10 running back Samuel Singleton seemed to enjoy his visit.

—U of L is offering two tickets to Tuesday’s game against North Carolina for a total of $50.

—Jeff Walz says that too many whistles are holding the sport of women’s college basketball back.

—PGA of America is considering selling Valhalla, which could have a massive impact on both the club and the city of Louisville.

—Sydney Curry remains a Louisville man.

—The Louisville women’s basketball team is up one spot to No. 4 in the new AP top 25 poll.

—New U of L CB commit Martel Hight says the love he received from everyone on his visit played the biggest part in his commitment.

—Following his weekend visit to U of L, Los Alamitos (Calif.) athlete DeAndre Moore has decommitted from Oklahoma. It’s safe to say the trip to The Ville had an impact on the decommitment.

Moore spent the weekend at Louisville as the Cardinals hosted several top players from all over the country.

“It was wild, they treated us like rock stars,” Moore said. “From the time we got there, pulling up at the basketball game and just walking around campus, it was incredible how well we were all treated.

“Coach (Pete) Thomas was just at my school last week and they offered me earlier in the month. I really didn’t know much about Louisville but Pierce (Clarkson) called me up and said I needed to come out and said I would love it there and he was right.”

Moore said his relationship with Clarkson goes back to middle school.

“We first met in 6th grade,” Moore said. “We played against each other and then in 7th grade, we went to a camp together. In 8th grade, we played for the IE Ducks and we’ve been close ever since.

“We have a strong connection and he’s definitely recruiting me hard now. Louisville is a real option for sure, there’s a lot to like. I like the coaches, the offense and how they plan to use me. Coming from the West Coast, I didn’t know what to think but I loved everything about the place.”

—On3’s new Recruiting Industry Comparison product is a handy tool for anyone looking to follow individual recruiting rankings across multiple scouting services.

—The latest episode of the Cardinal Sports Zone podcast is here.

—Iona moved to 10-0 in the MAAC on Sunday, and in the process, the Gaels earned Rick Pitino his 800th career victory.

Congrats, coach.

—Add Pitino to the growing list of voices who believe Kenny Payne should be the next Louisville men’s basketball coach.

He further praised the stability at Iona and called it a great job, saying, “we can make this into something really special,” as long as there aren’t major changes to the school’s administration.

“I left Louisville — I got fired from Louisville — because they changed all the Board of Trustees, they changed the president, and they changed everything where everybody was loyal to us” Pitino said, “and I’ve said it many times, what we went on, I deserved to be fired, but the best AD in the country was let go — in the country, built that whole campus. And that’s what can happen.”

Former U of L player and current New York Knicks assistant coach Kenny Payne has been endorsed by many for the Cardinal job. Payne previously served as an assistant for John Calipari at UK for 10 years, including six as an associated head coach.

“(I think) Kenny Payne can unite Louisville again,” Pitino said, per college basketball writer Adam Zagoria. “... I’m not endorsing him because that would probably be the killer for him.

“But I’m hoping Kenny Payne gets it because he can unite all factions of Louisville and that would be great. I don’t like to see any coach get fired, but I’m hoping for Kenny. He’s a great guy, a great recruiter, he’s a terrific coach. And if he wants it, I hope he gets it.”

—Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau also thinks Payne would fit well at U of L.

—Eric Crawford aggregates some comments from around the country about the Louisville vacancy.

—Dan Dakich is in trouble for the 10,000th time.

—Never leave us (me), Kenny.

—Purdue is one of a handful of teams right now that seems capable of winning the national title, but only one team in the last 20 years has made the Final Four with a defense worse than the Boilermakers’.

—Yesterday in the ACC:

Boston College 69, Pitt 56

Tonight in the ACC:

No. 9 Duke at Notre Dame (7 p.m./ESPN)

—Louisville WR Gunter Brewer is expected to leave and take the position at Maryland.

—As much as some of the Coach K farewell tour stuff has nauseated me this season (look, it’s a down year for the sport, there’s not much else to talk about), I thought Saturday’s festivities were pretty cool, especially the interactions between K and Denny Crum.

—Matt McGavic of Louisville Report picks UNC to top U of L by a single point tomorrow night.

—McGavic also has a coaching candidate profile of Kenny Payne.

—Five commitments in 24 hours seems good.

—Doug Beaumont is the latest former Louisville football player to join the coaching staff at Christian Academy.

—You can’t tell me this mystery person isn’t the key to U of L football’s recent run of recruiting success.

—Louisville is high on the list of Georgia safety Jayden Davis.

—The Daily Tar Heel has three keys to victory for UNC over Louisville.

—The Duke Basketball Report crew recaps the Blue Devils’ win over the Cards on the latest episode of their podcast.

—And finally, the Mike Rutherford Show is back in studio today after a COVID-fueled week of remote shows. We’ll be talking about all the events from a busy U of L weekend from 3-6 on 1450/96.1 The Big X. You can also stream the show here.